


baby, please don’t be afraid of me

by juniperProse



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Demon Shane Madej, Light Angst, M/M, but oh well!, im worried the shyan feels shoehorned in there, overuse of italicization, references to the hotdaga
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2019-02-11 15:15:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12937992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juniperProse/pseuds/juniperProse
Summary: “They had been investigating some supposedly haunted house, and Ryan had spritzed Shane with the holy waterjokingly- it was just a joke, supposed to be just a joke, but instead it hadburntShane, and now- now there was afucking monsterin the room with him.”





	baby, please don’t be afraid of me

**Author's Note:**

> prompt from @tiradordeprimera on tumblr: “Can i get sm shyan angst w happy ending Blease”
> 
> does this count as angst??? is this angsty????? who knows, i sure don’t!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaa
> 
> i didn’t anticipate this being quite so long (it’s still pretty short tho)
> 
> title is from the song holy lover by keaton henson!!!!!

Ryan was, quite understandably, freaking the fuck out at the moment.

“Who- _What_ are you, and what did you do with Shane?!”

Where Shane once stood was- well, still Shane, or at least something that looked eerily similar to him, only with cold, pure black eyes and dark horns curling from his head. 

Ryan had him backed against a rotting wall; he had his arms raised up as if to protect his face, the nozzle of Ryan’s gun pointed straight at him.

They had been investigating some supposedly haunted house, and Ryan had spritzed Shane with the holy water _jokingly_ \- it was just a joke, supposed to be just a joke, but instead it had _burnt_ Shane, and now- now there was a _fucking monster_ in the room with him.

Ryan tried to will his hands not to shake as he held the (stupid, dollar store worthy) holy water gun at his- at the creature’s head. 

“Ryan- Ryan, it’s _me_ , I swear it’s me, please put the gun down,” Shane- if it even was Shane- said. His back hit the wall, now.

“Bullshit! Who the fuck are you?” Ryan hoped that his terror wasn’t too evident in his trembling voice.

“I’m your _best friend,_ is who the fuck I am! Please put the gun down. _Please,_ Ry, you’re scaring me.”

Adrenaline (i.e., fear) coursed through Ryan’s veins.

“ _I’m_ scaring _you_? How the fuck do you think I feel?! Answer my _fucking question,_ and don’t lie this time, you- you _monster!”_

Shane visibly flinched, but held strong. “I’m not lying to you, baby.”

“ _Don’t call me baby._ You _aren’t him,_ ” Ryan’s voice sounded almost venomous, despite its quivering. Only _his_ Shane could call him that.

“I’m not lying to you,” Shane repeated, and when Ryan blinked the horns were gone, and his hollow black eyes were replaced with familiar warm ones.

Ryan’s jaw hung open stupidly for only a few moments at the impossibly sudden change, before he said, “Prove it then, prove that you’re actually Shane and not some- some-“ _demon._ He couldn’t bring himself to say the word aloud, not yet.

“I- fuck, okay, ask me a question. A question only I’d know the answer to.”

“Okay. Okay,” Ryan said. “What…” Ryan blanked, floundered for a good few seconds. 

“What’s the name of… the- the fucking pickle, from the Hotdaga?”

Fuck, if this were any other scenario Shane would have found the sheer absurdity of this _hysterical,_ Ryan knew. He would’ve laughed his ass off had he asked that same question maybe 10 minutes ago. Right now, though, with the threat of holy water and the intensity in the air, he seemed terrified.

“Her name’s Melba. Melba P. Dill.”

“There’s a middle initial? What- what’s the P stand for?”

“...The P stands for Pickle,” Shane said, almost too seriously.

Ryan breathed out what was supposed to maybe be a laugh, but was really more a sigh of relief, at this point. 

“Shane.” He slowly lowered the toy gun, put it back in its holster, still tensed up.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” Shane said half-heartedly.

“Shane. What are you?” 

Ryan’s jaw clenched, out of anger or fear, he didn’t know.

“I- listen, Ry-“

“What _are_ you? Have you- have you been a _demon_ this entire goddamn time?” There it was- the word demon was practically spat out by him, like it had a foul taste to it.

There was a hard pause before Shane nodded weakly, averting his gaze.

“So why didn’t you _tell me?_ ”

“Because I was too scared to.”

“Too scared to- that’s _rich,_ coming from you.”

“‘Cause I didn’t want you to be afraid of me,” Shane said, hurt clear in his voice.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh.’ You’re terrified of demons. You would’ve flipped shit if I told you,” Shane mumbled. “You kind of _did_ flip shit.” Shane’s eyes finally met Ryan’s as he said this. They felt like they were searing into him, like they were still the piercing and impenetrably dark pits they’d been just moments before.

“Sorry about that,” said Ryan after a moment.

“Yeah, s’okay. Like I said, I kind of expected it. I just… I’m fine with seeing you scared. I just didn’t want to be the cause of it.”

Ryan swallowed. “So you… still care about me?”

“I’ve always cared about you, Ryan. That’s why I’ve stuck around.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“There’s a reason you never see any ghosties- I scare ‘em all away so that they don’t hurt you.”

“Hey, wait, what? Dude! You’ve been a believer this whole time! _And_ you’ve been fucking up my evidence!”

“Uh, no, I never fucked up any of your evidence _intentionally._ ”

“Intentionally,” he repeated mockingly. “Sure you haven’t.” Ryan swallowed, let silence enter the air for a second too long. “You aren’t leaving the show, right?” he continued, softly this time.

“Nah, I think you’re stuck with me, Bergara,” Shane said fondly. “If you still want me, that is.”

“Of course. Who else is gonna antagonize a bunch of dead people for me?”

Shane breathed a ghost of a laugh at that. 

“So, are… are we good, Shane?”

“Depends. Are you still afraid of me?”

“No. No, I was for a bit there, but not anymore.” _Preferably never again,_ Ryan thought, but didn’t say.

There was another pause, Ryan now staring down at his shoes awkwardly, before Shane said, “C’mere, bring it in.” He opened up his arms and Ryan walked forward almost on instinct, slumping into his best friend’s embrace. Shane’s arms wrapped around his shoulders like they were always meant to be there, and he buried his face in Ryan’s hair. 

They held each other for what would have been an uncomfortably long time, had it been a hug between anyone else but each other. Between them, though, the closeness felt like second nature.

“Shane?” Ryan started, head pressed against Shane’s chest. He could almost hear Shane’s heartbeat; steady, human, or human-like, at least. It was a comfort.

“Yeah, little guy?”

“Question.”

“Shoot.”

“If you… Since you are a, y’know, a demon… are you, like, possessing someone right now?”

“No, God no, that’d be way fucked up,” Shane said with disgust, like it was the most obvious thing ever. “This body’s all mine, baby. Grew it myself.”

“Ew,” Ryan said, smiling against Shane’s torso despite himself.

“Aw, c’mon, I think you’re a fan of it.” Shane squeezed Ryan almost imperceptibly closer.

“Shut up, Shane.”

They held each other there, for what felt like forever but was actually probably closer to a few minutes, if that.

“‘M sorry, Ry,” Shane said after some time, his chin now rested on top of Ryan’s head. “For scaring you, and for lying to you about something so… big.”

Ryan responded by clutching him harder. “It’s okay, we’re okay now,” he said, voice muffled by his friend’s sweater in his face.

“Okay,” and another pause, then, “Ry?”

“Yeah?”

“There’s something else I’ve gotta tell you.”

“If you tell me you have, like, a _demon tail,_ I’m leaving.”

“No- it’s unrelated to the demon thing.”

Ryan pulled back from their hug just enough to look Shane in the eyes. Sweet, hazel-honey eyes- such a sharp contrast to the complete and utter blackness they’d been minutes ago, to the piercing gaze he’d held even after that.

Shane took a breath before saying words Ryan could only dream of hearing.

“I kinda have a crush on you.”

“Wait, _what?”_

“I uh- well, you sorta kinda asked earlier why I stuck around, and- well,” Shane fumbled. “There are lots of reasons, but that’s one of them. I figured now was as good a time as any to tell you, since I’m confessing all of my deepest darkest secrets tonight, apparently.”

Ryan, the believer, was in disbelief. “Oh my God. This is… I’m… well I‘m kinda crushing on you too, you big dummy.”

“Thought so. That’s good to hear, cause if you didn’t feel the same way I’d have to crawl back into the hellhole where I came from out of shame.”

Ryan wheezed and grinned up at him. “Out of _Shane_ , more like. Is there any other huge, untold secret you need to lay on me?”

“Mm, just one question.”

“Yeah?”

“Is that a water gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”

“Shut up, Shane. I’ll shoot you again, don’t try it.”

“Ha. Please never do that again, though- seriously, it fucking hurts,” Shane said. “And… thank you.”

“For what?”

“Believing me. Believing _in_ me. About all of this.”

“I… yeah. Of course. Can we go back to hugging now?”

“‘Course we can.”

Shane kissed Ryan on the forehead before bringing him back in, and everything about this felt _right,_ felt natural, just like everything with Shane did- and despite his freak-out only minutes ago, Ryan didn’t feel afraid now, not one bit.

**Author's Note:**

> i think literally all of my fics so far have been from ryan’s POV (in third person, but still!) so, whoops...?
> 
> like i even had a version of this from shane’s POV (where they had a preestablished relationship, too) but it just. didn’t work as well?????
> 
> anyhow i hope yall enjoyed this!!!!! <33
> 
> oh hey by the way i’m @ryanbergarage on tumblr- u should totally follow me on there!!!


End file.
